Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Reggae-loving parrot joins Vanuatu's climate change fight

Reggae-loving parrot joins Vanuatu's climate change fight.
well not quite....

Thank you for your email of 9 August concerning the headline “"Reggae-loving parrot joins Vanuatu's climate change fight".  

As your correspondence raised concerns of a lack of accuracy, your email was referred to Audience and Consumer Affairs for consideration and response. The unit is separate and independent from ABC program areas and is responsible for investigating complaints alleging a broadcast or publication was in contravention of the ABC's editorial standards. In light of your concerns, we have reviewed the story and assessed it against the ABC’s editorial requirements for accuracy, as outlined in section 2.1 of the ABC’s Code of Practice: http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CodeofPractice2013.pdf . In the interests of procedural fairness, we have also sought and considered material from ABC News.

We agree that the headline was slightly misleading in that it suggested that the video was part of the fight against climate change as against part of the effort to prepare for it. The relevant part of the script said:

Climate change may intensify some of the impacts of El Nino and la Nina in the future. Learning how to adapt to the natural ups and downs in our climate will help prepare for long-term climate change

The headline has been modified and an editor’s note attached.

Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied this adequately resolves the problem.

Thank you for taking the time to write; your feedback is appreciated.

For your reference, the ABC Code of Practice is available online at http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CodeofPractice2013.pdf

Yours sincerely

Mark Maley                                 
Audience & Consumer Affairs

Editor’s note: (August 20) The original headline mentioned “Vanuatu’s climate change fight”. The headline has been changed to reflect the fact that the piece is more about information and preparations for weather events.

score +1

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